International Football History and Statistics

On this day in football history

• 1929 George Brown, Huddersfield Town and England centre or inside forward, transferred to Aston Villa. He was a pit-boy on strike when Town signed him in December 1921 and he gained a regular place in the team during 1923-24, the first season of their hat-trick of League Championship wins. He was on the losing side in the 1928 Cup Final when his team lost 3-1 to Blackburn Rovers. In almost eight years with Huddersfield he scored 142 goals in 214 League matches and he continued to be a prolific scorer to the end of his first class career in 1938. He moved to Burnley shortly after the start of 1934-35 and had a year there before moving to Leeds United for a year and spent his last year as player manager to Darlington. His final record was 268 goals in 445 League games. He played for England 9 times between 1927 and 1933.
• 1930 Moses Russell, Plymouth Argyle full back, signed by Thames who had recently been elected to the Third Division South. He was probably the greatest Welsh full back of the period between the War and was an unforgettable soccer character. Standing 5'7" and weighing almost 12 stone he was a vigourous player and having become completely bald at an early age was unmistakeable on the field. His first club of note was Ton Pentre and then he joined Merthyr Tydfil in 1912 and moved to Plymouth at the end of season 1913-14. Played in 23 internationals between 1912 and 1929 and about 400 times for Argyle, 315 in the Third Division. Added 13 matches to this total with Thames.
• 1933 Charlie Fletcher, Clapton Orient outside left, transferred to Brentford. Although not of international standard he nevertheless gave good service to a number of clubs during the 1930s. From Brentford he moved to Burnley, 1936, Ipswich Town, 1938 and Plymouth Argyle, 1939. Between 1931 and 1939 he played in 317 League games and scored 89 goals.
• 1966 Jim Forrest, Rangers centre forward scored 5 of his side's 8 goals against Stirling Albion in a League Cup game at Anfield. A former schoolboy international, he made his senior debut towards the end of 1962-63 but did not score. Opened the following season as first choice and hit 39 goals - 21 in the League, 2 in the Cup and 16 in the League Cup. In 1964-65 he raised his total to 57 - 30 League, 3 Cup, 18 League Cup and 6 European Cup and in the following year obtained 35 goals of which 24 were in the League competition. A grand total of 131 goals in 3 seasons football. Has medals for all the senior domestic competitions which Rangers enter and played for Scotland against Wales and Italy during 1965-66.